Tajik Mosques Being Allowed To Amplify Call To Prayer

DUSHANBE -- Officials in the Tajik capital are allowing mosques to use microphones and amplifiers to issue the Islamic call to prayer, known as Azan.

Qori Mukhammadali, a cleric at Dushanbe's Central Mosque, has told RFE/RL's Tajik Service that the calls to prayer are being announced very loud, but he said no one has complained about the noise.

Three years ago, city officials "recommended" that all mosques stop using microphones and amplifiers when making the Azan, which is done five times a day.

Local officials in cities in northern Tajikistan last year urged clerics in local mosques to stop using voice-amplifying technology for the call to prayer, "due to ordinary citizens' complaints" about the noise.